About Parenting Alpha
Parenting is a focal point of discussion today, largely because of the influence of technology, the environment, and emerging lifestyles on parents and Alpha children.
These influences are best illustrated by how we interact with technology, the environment, and our peers. From rural to urban dwellings, we now litter our homes with electronic/digital devices, and use them extensively, oftentimes, irresponsibly.
Besides, we live in cramped environments that are messy, and becoming limited by the day.
We have become quite entitled, just as we are interfacing with all kinds of complex cultures. Besides, we are trying hard to outdo each other socially and financially.
Elsewhere, our diets are inadequate, we exercise less, and hardly get sufficient sleep! These are no doubt breeding grounds for communicable and non-communicable diseases, leading to all kinds of health and financial challenges.
We are also less sociable, spiritual, and averse to accommodating others in the community!
A blend of all the above challenges means we have less time for our children, family, and even ourselves.
To cover up for our absence and irresponsibility, we have chosen to avail children with countless digital devices to keep them busy all day. We also keep them indoors, for fear of the outdoors!
It should not surprise us, therefore, that we now raise a generation of children so much attached to technology, and the negatives they come with. They hardly interact with the community and the true basics of life we once enjoyed in the years gone.
NOTE: Depending on individual preferences, technology ships with both good and bad news. Yes, it is designed to make our lives better because it facilitates faster communication, entertains us, and eases productivity. On the flip side, it ships with challenges that may hamper smooth childhood development.
Technology is, however, not the only parenting challenge we face today:
Out of the many, we have learned to favor a protective approach to parenting, by keeping a close eye on what our children do, where they are, and who they play with. While at it, we observe an extreme sense of hygiene to protect them from health hazards we hardly understand!
In addition to paranoid parenting, this approach to raising children has its boon and bane, and continues to stir debates and controversy at home and the communities we live in.
ETC, etc.
The parenting challenges mentioned above are not going on without our notice.
Yes, we see them and are puzzled about what we should do. We continue to question our capacity to raise children in the midst of technology, globalization, cultural mashups, and rising individualism and competition.
We also wonder if parenting is a ‘learned skill‘ like most of us have come to believe! Or maybe, all we need is to nurture a rich relationship with our children.
Yes, there is so much to talk about and do.
That is what parentingalpha.com is here to find out – with you, of course. In any case, parenting is a lifelong journey and a mashup of experiences that we learn and share.
Good reading.
